Archive for March, 2006

This design is a visual interpretation of one aspect from my current study about Acoustical Privacy: the iPod as a potential indicator for “non-communication”. Through a playful approach the sticker either strengthens the wish for privacy but also offers the opportunity to break up the silence with the direct demand for conversation. -Marco Siebertz

“Gawker Media has put up a Google Map that shows the realtime locations of celebrities in New York City. The Google Maps mashup is called Gawker Stalker. Users can email their sightings to a gawker address and those tips are then mapped out for other users to follow. Some are calling it the killer celeb tracking app, while others (A PR Agent was interviewed on BBC World) say that it pushes the personal privacy envelope.”

“The SkyScout is a revolutionary
handheld device that uses advanced
GPS technology with point and click
convenience to instantly identify
thousands of stars, planets, constellations
and more.

Simply point the SkyScout at any star in the sky
and click the “target” button.
The SkyScout will instantly
tell you what object you are looking at.

To locate a star or planet, select the object’s name from the menu and follow the directional
arrows through the viewfinder.
SkyScout tells you when you are on target. It’s that easy!

Once you have targeted an object the real fun begins.
The SkyScout includes entertaining and
educational audio and text information, including facts, trivia, history and mythology about
our most popular celestial objects.
A fun learning tool for all ages, the SkyScout personal
planetarium puts the knowledge of an expert astronomer in the palm of your hand.”

I don’t know how this thing could possibly work. It would have to have a GPS, a digital compass, gyroscopes *and* vision processing with a complete sky map and an intense algorithm that could identify what part of the sky you are seeing when only some stars are visible due to light pollution.

It turns out that a couple of mischeivous little bastards from the Cal student section had been IM’ing with Pruitt all week under the identity of “Victoria,” a fictional UCLA hottie, and Pruitt was eagerly anticipating a date with this nubile co-ed back in Westwood after the game. In preparation for the date, Pruitt had handed over his digits, which the Cal student section recited back to him in unison.”

Microsoft has posted a Live Local technology preview that lets you drive around a city and see the sites in a hybrid movie/navigation format. They have forward, side, and rear imagery for all the streets in Seattle, and you can drive through the city using the arrow keys. Try it out here